Oct 27, 2018

Plantir, Domestic Law Enforcement & Thought Crime is Here?

Robert Scheer of 'Sheer Intelligence' [brilliant moniker btw Robert!] writes on how American domestic law enforcement since 911, has increasingly been used for Intelligence work not necessarily related to criminal activity. We all should be alarmed at this - It's leading to authoritarian rule step by step!

"French theorist Michel Foucault saw the writing on the wall. In his
1975 book, "Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison," which drew
on the work of the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, he introduced the
social theory of "panopticism" to explain, at least in part, how surveillance functions as a system of power.

Today, we are very much living in a tech panopticon—one in which our
purchasing habits, individual data and even physical movements can be
tracked without our knowledge. What does this mean for the future of
personal privacy? How has the "war on terror" radically altered the ways
we fight crime, and in what ways might the state use the increasingly
sophisticated tools at its disposal to abuse its authority?

For Jamie Garcia of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, the possibilities
are terrifying and limitless. In the latest installment of "Scheer
Intelligence," she and host Robert Scheer discuss how local police
forces are working hand in hand with Palantir, an organization funded by
the CIA. Specifically, they explore how data mining and "predictive
policing" pose an existential threat to people of color. Observes
Garcia: "It takes us back to post-9/11 in which Congress wanted to set
up a way to make domestic law enforcement the eyes and ears of the
federal government."

Not even the country's most liberal states are immune to these kinds
of civil rights violations. Take California, where Garcia notes the LAPD
has ignored the will of the people at every turn to implement a controversial new drone program.
"When you have your own city council not listening to the wishes of the
community," she laments, "you realize that there is no community
control of these [initiatives]."
Despite this, Garcia refuses to abandon hope. "We [have to] talk
about how the police is functioning," she concludes. "We just assume,
like a public utility, that they're doing their job. That they're
providing us ... safety. And I think that will open our eyes to how
harmful policing is in our lives.""Listen to the podcast here